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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 5730615" data-attributes="member: 78958">Balance-wise, I think your creation is just fine as LA+0. However, I'd like to point out a few conceptual problems I have with this race, especially where their niche in the game is concerned.First of all, character optimization:+2 Cha, -2 Dex doesn't really lend itself easily to many optimized builds, except maybe a Paladin? Bards and Sorcerers will hate the Dex penalty, though - although it may be preferable to the Star Elves' Con penalty. Powerful build does nothing for Bards and Sorcerers, either. NA is nice for everybody, but again favors the frontliners. So is this a Paladin-y race, with a Cha bonus, NA, and powerful build? Doesn't seem to fit that well conceptually, and what would a Paladin be doing using Knowledge (Nature)?Binder, maybe?Druids, which fit the concept more than anything, only get a Cha bonus once wildshaped, which isn't much really, and lose the other benefits of the race choice, except for largely inconsequential skill bonuses.So what's this race's schtick, what are they supposed to be really good at?Concept/role in the campaign:So they're forest-dwelling, friendly, nature-loving humanoids. Like ents, errm..., treants, but without the great personal power those invoke, so you can put in more individuals. I could see a role in a campaign easily enough, of course. It'd be a little bit of work to avoid cliché, but still. On the other hand, they fill much of the narrative-ecological niche of Wood Elves.Physiology etc.:Plant-like, but not plant-like... I'm not feelin' it. It seems a bit as if you only put in the restrictions on their plant-y-ness to avoid balancing issues. The Goodberry power (which also implies they produce nourishment by way of photosynthesis) implies they ARE plants. But then you go and say they have none of a Plant type creature's immunities. AND on top of that they STILL have a Plant type creature's vulnerabilities...So what are they? Are they sentient plants? Or are they basically humans disguised as your neighbourly happy tree friends? Physiologically speaking, that is. Do they have bark, are they made of wood, do they transport nutrients in some sort of sap? Or are they made of flesh, bone and blood? What does it look like when a Treeling is struck by a Wounding Weapon, or kept in the dark for a long time, or force-fed? Do they breathe air (if not, that'd be quite powerful)? Can they root into the ground (to avoid being tripped)? Can they be poisoned, diseased etc.?This "it's a plant, but not a plant" business seems to open up more questions than it solves. Some of them mechanical questions with immediate balancing implications.</blockquote>

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